High and low pattern attachment for tufted pile fabrics



Nov. 17, 1959 H. F. NOWICKI HIGH AND LOW PATTERN ATTACHMENT FOR TUFTED FILE FABRICS Filed Oct. 18, 1956 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Ill \lllllll mvsu'ron Y E NOWICKI ATTY.

Nov. 17, 1959 H. F. NOWICKI 2,912,945

HIGH AND LOW PATTERN ATTACHMENT FOR TUFTED FILE FABRICS Filed Oct. 18, 1956 3 Sheets-$heet 2 INVENTOR: HENRY E NOWICKI ATTY.

Nov. 17, 1959 H. F. NOWICKI HIGH AND LOW PATTERN ATTACHMENT FOR TUFTED PILE FABRICS Filed Oct. 18, 1956 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 lNVEN TORl HENRY E NOWICKI NOE AT'T Y United States Patent HIGH AND LOW PATTERN ATI'ACHlVIENT FOR TUFTED PILE FABRICS Henry F. Nowicki, Norristown, Pa., assignor to James Lees and Sons Company, Bridgeport, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application October 18, 1956, Serial No. 616,837

Claims. (Cl. 112-79) ment which may be employed with the general type of tufting machine shown in the above-mentioned application.

It has been found that interesting and novel effects can be produced in a tufted carpet by using one or more rollers to control selected yarn ends in such a way that a different height is given to the selected ends in relation to a varying height of other non-selected ends. Previously the additional control rollers provided the same height for each end passing over the rollers weftwise of the fabric. The present invention contemplates the use of a contoured roller or rollers so that the varying peripheral speed will provide pile of different height across the fabric. In order to avoid straight longitudinal valleys, the contoured roller may be oscillated axially with any desired frequency.

The primary object of the invention, therefore, is to provide in a pattern tufting machine at least one contoured control roller for selected yarn ends.

A further object of the invention is to provide an attachment for a tufting machine -in which a contoured roller may be oscillated back and forth across the tufting machine so that varying feed speeds are imparted to different yarn ends.

A further object of the invention is to provide a tufted pile floor covering in which selected yarn ends are given an undulating contour both warpwise and weftwise of the fabric.

Further objects will be apparent from the specification and drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary view of a tufting machine embodying the present invention,

Fig. 2 is an end view of the structure of Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is a sectional detail as seen at 3-3 of Fig. 1,

Fig. 4 is a schematic sectional view of a tufting machine and the control apparatus,

Fig. 5 is an enlarged sectional detail of a part of Fig. 4,

Fig. 6 is a diagrammatic Weftwise section of a fabric produced in accordance with the present invention,

Fig. 7 is an enlarged detail of one of the contoured rollers,

Fig. 8 is an enlarged sectional detail as seen at 8-8 of Fig. 7,

Fig. 9 shows a further modified cork-screw type of pattern control roller,

Fig. 10 shows a modification utilizing'a pair of contoured rollers, and

of cords 58.

2,912,945 Patented Nov. 17, 1959 ice Fig. 11 is a diagrammatic view representing a weftwise section of a portion of the fabric produced with the rollers of Fig. 9.

The invention comprises essentially the provision of a shaped or contoured roller over which some of the pile yarn ends are carried to thereby control the feed of these yarn ends to the tufting needle and consequently. the height of the pile formed therefrom. If the contoured roller is driven at constant speed, the portions of the roller having the greatest diameter will feed yarn faster than the portions having the smallest diameter due to the difference in peripheral speed between said portions. Intermediate feeds will be given to yarn ends passing over the tapered areas between the swollen areas and the constricted areas of the roller. In the event that the contoured roller remains axially stationary, each row of pile will be substantially the same height warpwise of the fabric. However, if the roller is caused to oscillate, it is possible to provide an undulating height in the same row of pile warpwise of the fabric.

Referring now more particularly to Figs. 4 and 5, the conventional tufting machine for carpets and the like includes a needle motion consisting of a crankshaft 20 to which a plurality of connecting rods 21, 21 are secured and by which the various rods 21 are actuated in a vertical reciprocatory manner by means of eccentrics 22. The needles 23 which are secured in shafts 24 and guided in sleeves 25 are therefore caused to rapidly reciprocate through the backing fabric F in the conventional manner. The needle motion 'is contained in a suitable housing 26 which is mounted over the bed 27 of the tufting machine. The backing fabric feeds from a supply, not shown, around a tension roll 28, a pin feed roll 29, across the bed 27, over guide roll 30. From thence the fabric passes around a tension roll 32 to the take up (not shown). A plurality of loopers 35 mounted on a rock shaft 36 cooperate to form and/ or cut the pile as it is inserted through the backing fabric F by needles 23. l

The pile yarn is supplied from a creel,'not shown, through a feed and tensioning device 40 which comprises paddles having interdigitating blades 41 and 42. The pile yarn then passes through a separator guide 43 so that the yarn ends 44 of one color pass around and through a feeding reel 45 and individual tensioning elements 46. From thence the pile yarn 44 passes downwardly through guides 47, 48, and 49 to needles23. The formation of the high andlow loops in yarn ends 44 may be controlled in any convenient orconventional manner, but I prefer to utilize a tension assembly 46 (Fig. 5) which comprises a stationary U-shaped channel 50 having yarn end guiding apertures 51' and '52. A movable block or sinker 53 is free to travel up and down in the member 50 between limits determined by setscrews 54 and 55. The sinkers 53 are connected through springs 56 individually or in a group to a bank of solenoids one of which is designated 57 by means In a de-energized condition solenoids 57 permit the sinkers 53 to drop, thus aligning the guide apertures 51 and 52 with an aperture 59 in the sinker. Under these conditions no tension is applied to the yarn 44 and high pile is formed. s r

A pattern tape 60 (Fig. 4) is driven in timed relation to the operation of the tufting machine by means of one of two pattern rollers 61 and 62. Roller 61 is provided with pins 63, 63 for engaging one edge of the pattern tape and the tape is either cut out or provided with electrically conductive areas which permit an electrical circuit to be closed at certain intervals between contact arms 64 and 65. Closing of the circuit between contact arms 64 and 65 energizes selected solenoids 57 through relay 66 which has its armature winding 67 connected across transformer 68 which is in turn connected to a source of current supply 69. The current for solenoid 57 likewise is tapped from supply 69 through leads 70, 71, and 72, the latter two of which are connected -to terminals *of relay switch '73.

The other series of yarn ends 75 passes from yarn separator 43 around a stationary guide 76 which may be a roller, a glass'rod, or a glass tube having a plurality of circumferential grooves 77, 77 as seen more clearly in Figure 1. From guide 76, yarn 75 passes around the undulating feed roller 78 to be described more fully hereinafter, thence around a second guide roller or bar 79 similar to guide 76 from which it is carried through guides 47-49 to needles 23. The undulating roller 78 may be provided with a suitably roughened surface to prevent slippage of the yarn ends and consequently to insure .positive control of the feed. The yarn ends 75, passing a'roundroller 78, may be fed through every alter nate needle 23 or certain groups of needles, or may be fedthrough all or some of the needles together with the yarn ends44.

With roller 78 turning at constant speed, it will be noted that the feed for the various yarns across the tufting machine will vary, depending upon the peripheral speed of the contact surface of roller 78 which engages each yarnen'd. This would, of course, provide in any one roll aseries of loops or tuftsall of the same height. In order to obviate the line or striped effect which such operation might produce, it is desirable to oscillate roller 78 axially tobreak up the tendency-to stripe by providing loops of different heights not only weftwise but warpwise of the fabric. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that even though the roller is not oscillated, the appearance of stripes can be minimized by a judicious arrangement of the overall pattern, particularly where the. yarn ends controlled by the undulating roller 78 are used as a background of relatively lower pile.

In Figure 1, there is shown suitable mechanism for co'ntrollingboth the rotationalspeed ofroller 78 as well as-the-mechanism for oscillating the roller along its axis. The roller shell 78a is keyed to an elongated sleeve 80 that is axially slidable upon a splined shaft 81. A collar 82, attached to one end of sleeve 80, is engaged by yoke 83 (Figs. 1, 7, and-8) so that the collar can rotate in accordance with the turning of shaft 81, but axial control of sleeve 80 on shaft 81 is governed by a rocker arm 84, journaled in bracket 85, and provided with a cam follower 86 at its oppositeend.

The main driveis from motor 90 which drives the main shaft 91 through pulleys 92, 93, and belt 94. Auxiliary drive for the heaters 40 is provided through suitablespro'ckets 95, 96, 97, chains 98 and 99. Drive for roller 78 is from shaft 91 through pulley 100, variable speed pulley '101, and belt 102. A reducing element 103 may be positioned between pulley 101 and shaft 81. Tensionof belt 102 is achieved through an adjustable turnbuckle 104. Asimilar arrangement is provided to drive shaft105 through reducing unit 106, variable speed pulley 107, belt 108, and sheave 109 on pulley'100. Adjustment of belt 108 is similarly provided by means of a 'turnbucklelltl. Shaft 105 carries a barrel cam 115 which oscillates lever 84 through cam follower 86. It will therefore be observed that controlled oscillating motion is imparted to roller 78 in accordance with the speed with which shaft 105 turns.

Figure 7 shows on an enlarged scale how sleeve 80 is journaled in the side frame members 115 and 116. When the roller 78 is not oscillated, which would be the case if belt 108 were disconnected, the pile, which may be in the form of loops, undulates weftwise in the fabric as shown by the broken line "117 in Fig. 6. Loops 118 and 119 are illustrative of other heights of loops con trolled by the mechanism shown in Fig. '4 rather than the single row of loops 120 under control of roller 78. A modification is shown in Fig. '9 in which the corkscrew type or helical roller .125 is substituted for the undulating roller 78. This cork-screw shape provides variable height pile warpwise of the fabric since each yarn end is constantly being fed with a variable speed due to the helical surface of roll 21 25. If desired, the contoured roller 125 can be oscillated in the same manner as shown in connection with roller 78 to provide increased variations in patterned eifects.

An additional variation maybe used in which two groups of yarn ends are formed over a pair of undulating rollers 78 and 78'. Figure 10 indicates how the swollen and constricted portions of these two rollers are designed to complement each other, thereby providing a pattern which isshown in the weftwise fabric section of Figure 1 1.

My improved contoured pattern control roller is simple, effective, and enables the fabric designer to achievea wide variety of sculptured eflects which have heretofore been possible only on carpet looms. It will also be understood that many variations of the shaped roller may be made within the scope of the invention.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. Ina tufting machine for manufacturing pile fabrics, a plurality of tufting needles, a bed over which said needles oscillate to insert spaced apart yarn ends into a backing material, a roller having a concentric undulating periphery over which a plurality of spaced apart yarn ends are adapted to be guided, means for turning said roller at aconstant predetermined speed, and means for guiding the spaced apart yarn ends around the periphery of said roller.

2. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 having means for varying the speed of said roller.

3. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 having'means for oscillating said roller axially.

4. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 in which the roller has a helically formed periphery.

5. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 having a pair of rollers with complementary aligned concentric undulating peripheries.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

